


In a Jinx

by fayrenz



Category: SHINee
Genre: M/M, a little bit of cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22870636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fayrenz/pseuds/fayrenz
Summary: Finals were next week, most of Jonghyun’s schoolwork was due in two days and he had caught a fucking cold.It was not a common cold. It was a witch’s cold. Yes, Kim Jonghyun, yours truly, was a witch through and through and due to a silly mistake of not protecting himself with a simple health sigil… probably all hell was about to break loose.
Relationships: Kim Jonghyun & Lee Jinki | Onew, Kim Jonghyun/Lee Jinki | Onew
Comments: 5
Kudos: 35
Collections: Winter of SHINee





	In a Jinx

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Winter of SHINee Fic Fest based on the following prompt:
> 
> Being a witch was hard in a world where technology is leading every aspect of the one life, A was struggling to balance between his studies, his witchcraft training, and life in general. It became worse when B came into the view, injured and hurt.

Jonghyun felt a little discomfort in his nose, a slight irritation of a sneeze that was trapped inside and on the verge of bursting out but just wasn’t. He had attended two classes with that discomfort and now was nursing a headache as well. He would’ve ruled it out as something in the air or the stress of his upcoming project deadlines but the itch in his throat confirmed it was something more.

As he waited in line for his turn at the Starbucks kiosk in the University library, he slowly pulled up his sleeve and found the sigil he usually drew there, gone. He sighed, stepping forward towards one of the vacant kiosks and entered his order. He took a seat at one of the empty desks in the library and soon his smartwatch alerted him that his drink was ready. He headed towards the pickup area where his drink was waiting in one of the insulated glass boxes, his name scrawled in bubbly and small cursive. He swiped his ID and the box opened enough for him to grab his drink. He returned to his desk, worrying on his lip about what he would do now. 

Finals were next week, most of his schoolwork was due in two days and he had caught a fucking cold. 

It was not a common cold. It was a  _ witch’s _ cold. Yes, Kim Jonghyun, yours truly, was a witch through and through and due to a silly mistake of not protecting himself with a simple health sigil… probably all hell was about to break loose.

-

  
  


The only other person who knew Jonghyun was a witch was Kibum, his cousin, who was also a witch but had taken no interest in the family tradition of learning magic. It was always a choice in his family and for Jonghyun, it was easy because he was far more interested in learning how to cast spells than learning Trigonometry. But the witches’ society was a bit secretive and every witch also had to lead a mundane life which, obviously, required the mundane formal education. So here Jonghyun was, trying his best at Management Science. 

Jonghyun had downed his hot chocolate quickly, hoping the warmth of the liquid could heal his throat but all it had done was soothe and the itch was back by the time he had finished drafting his first assignment. 

It was snowing out and though the walkway connecting the library and the dorms was sheltered and insulated, Jonghyun put on his coat and switched on the insulation function in his coat as well. He had messaged Kibum, bluntly breaking the news that he’d caught a cold and seeing how his phone was pinging continuously, Kibum’s class was over and he had finally seen the message.

_ Did you sneeze yet? _

Jonghyun was confused at the message that followed Kibum’s nagging and chiding. 

_ Not yet. _

_ How long until you get to your apartment? _

_ I’m on the walkway. Ten minutes maybe? _

_ Hold it. Do whatever you have to but hold the sneezing. _

_ Why? _

_ M coming over to your dorm. Will explain when I'm there. JUST HOLD IT TILL THEN. JUST FOR 10 MORE MINS THAT’S ALL M ASKING FOR KIM JONGHYUN. _

_ Okay, okay. _

Jonghyun sighed, watching snow pile on the transparent, domed roof sheltering. It slid down due to the slope, unable to settle on any place but the little steady surface of the arc above him. He looked ahead and found two students turning into the walkway, towards the library. They were his classmates– Lee Jinki and Choi Minho– and he prepared himself to avoid them as he habitually always greeted people he knew. And these two usually always struck a conversation with him, especially Minho, who was always trying to extend it goodnaturedly and honestly, Jonghyun didn’t mind at all. Both the guys were nice to talk to, he always got a good suggestion or an interesting piece of news from them. But right now Jonghyun could neither spare the time nor take any risk of staying out since Kibum’s messages had him worried terribly. So, he thanked heavens that he had his headphones on and looked away, humming to some random song, feigning total engrossment in the billboards that were advising all air traffic to descend and use ground transport in lieu of the snowfall. But he had forgotten to play any music and their conversation had faded into his senses.

_ “I hate the snow. How can you even like it?” _

_ “Every season has its charms, Minho. There is beauty even in the chill of winter.” _

_ “Man, seriously you…” _

Their conversation faded out and Jonghyun sighed in relief as they had left him undisturbed. He turned around at the loud laughter coming from those two– at how odd and loud, yet pleasing Jinki’s was and the utterly ridiculous one that belonged to Minho. 

Their cheer was contagious, especially Jinki’s. His smile was the brightest Jonghyun had ever seen and he smiled at how he was laughing without a care, his eyes crinkling handsomely. He smiled to himself before turning back to his path, thinking about the last words he had heard from them-Jinki’s somehow lingered in his mind.  _ There is beauty even in the chill of winter. _

Jonghyun sighed. Jinki always gave off that caring and thoughtful aura and it reflected in everything he did, everything he was good at, in his thoughts and in his words. 

Witches were supposed to be the gifted ones, but Jonghyun often thought Jinki’s mundane traits were incomparable to his own magical gifts.

Jonghyun’s trail of thoughts was disrupted right after that thought. He had  _ sneezed _ ; the impact of it had shaken his whole body and he almost stumbled but regained his footing the next moment. Blinking as he gathered himself, he looked around discreetly as Kibum’s warning message, caps lock included, flashed before his eyes.

“Shit.” Jonghyun muttered to himself as he ran the rest of the way towards the dorms, sniffling, “Shit, shit, shit.”

-

  
  


“YOU SNEEZED?!”

Jonghyun flinched at Kibum’s volume as he sat in his revolving chair, cross-legged, wiping his runny nose with a tissue. 

“How the fuck am I supposed to hold in a sneeze?” Jonghyun argued, his voice now a clear indication of his cold, “And will you even tell me  _ why _ sneezing is such a big deal?”

“We are witches,” Kibum began, folding his arms, “Gifted beings, but also flawed beings.”

Jonghyun raised a brow, “And?”

Kibum huffed at Jonghyun’s expression, “You may be studying witchcraft but I still got my magic when I was nine, unlike you, who got it at the age of seventeen. I’ve been a witch longer than you.”

“And?” Jonghyun asked, feeling a sneeze coming but the sensation somehow faded and he just sniffled until it was gone.

“Witches are more perceptive and sensitive than humans, which is our power but also our kryptonite. We fall sick easily and when we do it's a hassle as our magic tends to run a bit wild as we are not in full health. Stuff… happens. Especially when we sneeze.” Kibum explained, “That is why we use sigils to protect ourselves from illnesses.”

“Okay, I do admit it’s my fault...” Jonghyun sighed, “I forgot to redraw it because I had a project report due that day.”

“Well, nothing can be done now. The sigil won’t work on an ill body so all you can do is redraw it when you recover.”

“And…” Jonghyun sniffled, blowing his nose to rid himself of that annoying irritation and fullness in his nose, “...when will that be?”

“Mom said witch colds can be as short as 2 days and as long as two weeks.”

“What?!” Jonghyun exclaimed, “Two weeks?”

Kibum shrugged, “I’ll message you my mom’s recipe of a potion. It soothes the symptoms and builds strength.”

“I don’t have time to  _ brew a potion _ , Bum. It’s finals week!”

“I know.” Kibum furrowed his brows, sighing, “Okay. So let’s analyze how bad the situation is. Did anything happen when you sneezed in the walkway?”

“I didn’t notice anything happening…” Jonghyun answered slowly, thinking back, trying to remember his surroundings from when after he had sneezed, “Everything was fine.”

“Okay, maybe it’s not that bad–”

Jonghyun sneezed right then and the thick, glass sliding window cracked, making both of them turn to it. The room suddenly got chilly with the wind leaking from the huge crack and Jonghyun grabbed his hoodie, sniffling as he put it on hurriedly, “You were saying?”

Kibum walked to the window and mended the crack, whispering a short spell while tracing the damage on the glass. He sighed when he was done, “Let’s just hope it’s nothing worse than a few cracked windows.”

-

Jonghyun had sneezed a few more times since then and each time had caused a little accident. One sneeze had sent his pillows and bedding floating up in the air, the next had his alarm clock ringing at 10 PM in the night. The next one had his music blaring at 100% from his speakers and when he had finally got it down, a humanoid was at his door, warning him of his violation. He had sneezed while the humanoid was leaving and the poor robot had short-circuited and was floating in the hallway until the warden came and got it.

  
Hence, Jonghyun decided to brew the potion Kibum had sent instead of sleeping as he couldn’t be a walking disaster and wreak havoc whenever he sneezed. It was finally done by dawn and Jonghyun had his first dose before sleeping in for a couple of hours and then another dose after breakfast. It seemed to be helping as he hadn’t sneezed ever since and felt the stuffiness in his nose lessen. 

He walked towards the library to work on his assignments and with every sneeze-free step, he grew confident that it had worked. He yawned as he saw the screens flash the ad for the upcoming Wintertide Fest. It was to be held on the weekend after finals week. The stadium was going to be converted into an ice rink for skating. Indoor games were to be organized in the student union and stalls would sell comfort food. Everything wrapped up later next afternoon to prepare for Winter Formal on Sunday night. Tickets were on sale for skating and the dance but the only way Jonghyun was planning to participate in the fest was by picking up some of the warm and sugary delicacies at the student union before catching up with all the movies and shows he had missed.

Thankfully, he didn’t have classes that day and after turning in the few assignments he had done, he decided to break for lunch. It was a little late for lunch but most kiosks in the food court were still open. Jonghyun grabbed pizza for both Kibum and him as Kibum would be seeking him out now since his class would have ended by 3. As expected, his cousin walked into the food court and headed towards him, dropping his bag on one of the vacant chairs. 

“You look better.” He commented, taking one pizza slice and biting right into it.

“I brewed the potion. I didn’t want to be a fucking walking disaster on campus.”

“You don’t  _ sound _ better.” Kibum sighed, “Haven’t sneezed, have you?”

“Not since I had the potion.”

“Well, if it's any consolation, it’s not just you having a bad time.” Kibum unsealed the dips Jonghyun had bought for the crust, “That guy from our major, short dark brown hair, little eyes-- I forgot his name– wait, he’s the one who carried a pineapple bag to the class excursion last semester–”

“Jinki?” Jonghyun asked, curious.

“Yeah, Jinki.” Kibum nodded, “He was playing soccer with his friends from the team and he embarrassed himself big time. He scored the winning goal.”

“Wait,” Jonghyun stopped chewing, confused, “How does that count as a big-time embarrassment?”

“He scored in the  _ wrong _ goal,” Kibum answered, almost bursting into laughter the next moment as he remembered the scene, “It was epic, watching him lead the ball in the opposite direction, the opposition cleared the way for him and his teammates– especially that guy, um, Choi Minho– the horror on his face. Priceless. And Choi’s boyfriend, Taemin… he was laughing his head off. I don’t know how I walked away with a straight face.”

Kibum continued, “Later in the computer lab, Jinki also rammed into one of those preserved old tech prototypes. The professor was mad– not because he broke it– but his voice kept breaking and he couldn’t say a proper word in response to anything asked. I think he was misheard… and when I saw him in the walkway just a few minutes back, he was tying his shoelaces but still ended up tripping over them–” Kibum paused, noticing how Jonghyun’s face had paled in dread, his gaze shifting to something behind him. He turned as well and found Jinki walking through the cafeteria and his backpack got stuck in one of the tables and his attempt in freeing it had both him and the table and chairs around him crashing down. Kibum looked back to Jonghyun, “What’s wrong?”

“He was there when I sneezed yesterday.” Jonghyun dropped his pizza back into the box. “A few steps away– but he was there.”

“Who?” Kibum asked but it clicked the very next moment, “Jinki?!”

Jonghyun nodded slowly, biting his lip in perplexion.

“ _ Fuck.” _

-

“This is just fucking too much,” Jonghyun whispered dismally as he walked back to the dorms with Kibum, “I can’t with this right now, I have a fucking project due tomorrow. I have studied nothing for my finals next week… and I haven’t even perfected the spells I promised I would before the Winter Solstice… I have a witch’s cold that could make me wreak havoc with a sneeze and…” He sighed, “And I just might’ve cursed my classmate with one of my sneezes.”

“We can take care of everything. All we need is a plan–” Kibum took out his phone to glance at his calendar, “–I am free tonight so I’ll brew the potion for you. I’ll brew a large quantity so it can last you a few days. But I don’t know the spell to activate it so I’ll need you there.”

“And I’ll finish all my submissions by hook or crook by tonight.”

“Good. We’ll meet for breakfast and see what we can do about Jinki.”

Jonghyun sighed, “Just what did I curse him with?”

“What were you thinking about when you sneezed?” Kibum asked, “I mean, it’s obvious it was Jinki since it’s him who seems affected. But…exactly what about Jinki?”

Jonghyun thought back and he knew exactly  _ what  _ he was thinking about Jinki because he’d had that thought quite a few times before too. He was slightly flustered at the notion of  _ wording _ his thoughts and he dodged the question instead, “I… I don’t really remember. I just remember that I was trying to avoid him because– because I had the cold and all.”

“Okay…” Kibum noticed the shift in Jonghyun’s expression and tone but didn’t poke any further, “Well, there is a way to find out. We’ll need something from him and another recipe from Mom.” Kibum paused, brows constricted in thought, “Go on, I’ll meet you in a bit.”

“Okay.” Jonghyun watched Kibum hurry back towards campus and sighed, knowing exactly what Kibum had in mind.

-

Kibum hadn’t chosen to study witchcraft but because his parents’ home hosted their coven for every occasion, it was no wonder Kibum was far more exposed to magic than Jonghyun was. He knew quite a lot of things which he wished he hadn’t caught on or learned, like knowing which potion cured what and which spell did what… and it was all because of his Mom. Mrs. Kim taught witchcraft to young witches in their coven’s base during mundane holidays, which also happened to be the Kims’ basement– an  _ enchanted _ basement– a regular basement to the mundane eye but a full-fledged, three-story academy and safehouse to a witch’s eye. Jonghyun had been there most of the holidays and he had all his basic knowledge down. He was now dwelling into complex magic and the process of learning was more independent which required him to master spells on his own by the next major holiday.

“Prentice spell,” Jonghyun read it out from the spell book. It was a bit hard following something that didn’t float around with him, like most augmented e-books did. Witches hadn’t adapted too well to the growing tech, some were completely against it– which Jonghyun understood, because the tech nowadays could easily replace the need of magic. But Jonghyun believed that tech was still mundane and there were limits that it could never cross, limits that magic could. 

After having a good read of the description and the warnings, Jonghyun slowly began reciting it. The ladle levitated into the air before it began stirring the potion and a few seconds later, the shakers levitated and ingredients were being added slowly in turns, in a proper flow with the stirring. “Phew,” Jonghyun closed his book. He had started on the potion since Kibum wasn’t back yet and to save his time in stirring and continuously adding the crushed ingredients in the proper order and bursts, he had used the prentice spell. It was one of the complex spells in his syllabus and looking at how the potion was brewing, it seemed like he could cross one spell out of the ones he had to learn before solstice.

It was right then that Kibum entered and he passed by Jonghyun in the kitchen towards the dining area, noticing the brewing in action. “Prentice spell? I thought you didn’t know how to cast it. Anyways, smart.”

“So…” Jonghyun took a seat beside Kibum, “Found what you were looking for?”

Kibum emptied his coat pockets of a few vials, “Picked up a few detector potions from Mom’s pantry. And…” He rummaged into his bag and took out a wristband, “Jinki’s.” He then plucked out one of Jonghyun’s hair and Jonghyun flinched in pain.

“At least warn me before you do that!”

“Sorry.” Kibum was not sorry at all from the smirk he was wearing. He immediately placed Jonghyun’s hair on the wristband and dropped some liquid on them from the first vial. “Hmm.”

“Nothing happened…” Jonghyun was rubbing his head, the little spot still stinging with the loss of hair, “Is the potion activated?”

“Yes.” Kibum answered, “Nothing happened means it’s not the curse of misfortune.” He dropped a few drops from the second vial and again, nothing happened, “Not the curse of lunacy.” He dropped the third potion and there was a little spark and a soft, blue smoke that dissipated soon, “Ah… it’s the curse of fallibility.”

Jonghyun furrowed his brows, “Curse of fallibility? Fallible? As in the tendency to make mistakes?”

“Not just any mistakes,” Kibum explained, “According to the curse, a person makes mistakes at things he usually succeeds at. So basically Jinki now is… a  _ reverse _ Jinki?” Kibum snickered, “Like he’s now screwing up all the things he’s supposedly good at.”

“That’s not good,” Jonghyun’s face fell.

“Why not?”

“He gets good grades… and finals start Monday.”

“Oh, shit.” Kibum whispered, both concern and pity taking over his previous jesty expression, “That really is not good.”

“We’ll have to break the curse. Do you know how?”

Kibum blinked, a little anxious as he took out his phone and started texting his mom. His phone pinged a few seconds later, “If the person succeeds at the one thing he has never succeeded at, then the curse breaks.”

“So…”

“We’ll have to find the thing Jinki absolutely sucks at and make him good at it.”

Jonghyun rubbed his forehead, stressed, “And we’ve got only four days to do that.”

-

Jonghyun had pulled an all nighter to complete all his submissions and Kibum, who had overtaken the potion brewing, had also brewed another potion that would compensate Jonghyun’s lack of sleep. The concoctions were working– his cold symptoms were under control, no sneezing and coughing yet, but he still had a blocked, runny nose and a raspy voice; and he wasn’t feeling sleepy, just a little stale only because he was aware of the fact that he hadn’t slept at all.

He had classes that day and the day after and though he had planned to catch them online instead since they were just revision classes, he was attending them physically now because he knew Jinki would be too. After grabbing a coffee from the vending machine, he entered the classroom, wading through the seats, recalling where usually Jinki sat. Jonghyun was a back-bencher and so was Jinki, so it wouldn’t stick out if Jonghyun moved closer to where Jinki sat.

Jonghyun was a good twenty minutes early and he watched the class fill as he drank his coffee. He was watching the door but Jinki hadn’t entered despite it being only 5 minutes for class to start. Jonghyun sighed, slumping a little, his eyes still fixed on the entrance.

“Is this seat taken?”

Jonghyun’s head swiveled to the soft voice, recognizing it immediately and it took a couple of moments more to recognize the person it belonged to. He was not wearing his usual baseball jacket but was wearing a sweatshirt, his hair wasn’t styled away from his face and was instead softly falling over his forehead, almost into his eyes… and his eyes were covered with round glasses– there were perhaps fashion goggles inspired maybe from Harry Potter’s original movie series. It was no wonder Jonghyun hadn’t been able to recognize him when he had entered the class.

“Hmm?” Jinki hummed, breaking Jonghyun’s daze and he grew slightly flustered, realizing he might have been  _ ogling _ staring for far too long.

“Not at all,” Jonghyun answered, moving his bag from the chair next to his.

“Are you sure?” Jinki asked, slowly lowering his bag onto the chair, “Seems like you were waiting for someone.”

“I– I am sure.” 

Jinki flopped down beside him immediately after that, taking out his tab and his pen. He projected the textbook on the little table attached to his seat and began going through his notes. Jonghyun watched him discreetly, his pen wasn’t working well on his touchscreen and his glasses kept sliding off his nose but despite it all, he was trying to making it work out, not seeming irritated at all. 

Jonghyun silently offered his own pen and Jinki accepted it after Jonghyun showed he had a spare one. But the moment Jinki touched it, it somehow fell and rolled away towards the first seats. Before any one of them could’ve retrieved it, the professor walked in. Class began soon enough and it was packed, leaving no gap for Jonghyun to interact with him. He almost thought of passing notes but since Jinki seemed so focused, Jonghyun didn’t have the heart to disturb him. 

Class finally ended but Jinki was still noting down a few things the professor had written on the screen and Jonghyun stayed back, watching the class slowly empty. He noticed Jinki finishing up and started to wrap up too.

As Jinki got up, his glasses slid off his nose completely and crashed before his feet, the lens cracking badly. Jonghyun had attempted to catch them, so had Jinki but both had stopped midway seeing that the damage was already done. Jinki sighed, picking it up and putting them on despite the crack.

“They are cracked, you don’t need to wear them!” Jonghyun immediately exclaimed, worried and also confused why Jinki would want to wear cheap fashion glasses despite them being broken.

Jinki smiled nervously as he started packing his stuff, “I can’t really see without them.”

Jonghyun blinked, “Wait, those are  _ prescription _ glasses?”

Jinki nodded, “I either keep losing my contact lenses or I am unable to put them on without poking myself in the eyes.”

“Oh…” Jonghyun felt a pang of guilt in his chest and looking at that crack in the glasses, he really, really wanted to fix it with a spell. It was so simple and the spell was on the tip of his tongue, but he had to refrain himself.

“I kinda also ruined the zippers of my baseball jackets,” Jinki explained his sweatshirt, “And the hair gel was stuck in the tube and spluttered everywhere when I tried using it.” Jinki’s words faded as he realized what he was saying, “Sorry for ranting, you must think I am extremely clumsy–”

“Not at– ashchhooom!” Jonghyun instantly covered his nose with his sleeve, panicking the moment the sneeze was out. He looked at Jinki anxiously and sighed in relief, affirming that he was unaffected by his sudden sneeze.

“Bless–” Jinki turned to the motion around him, finding the chairs floating in the air. He looked down next, feeling something vibrate against his hand– the chair he had rested his hand on was vibrating and he removed his hand, flinching away and the chair flew up next to the others afloat in the air.

“ _ Fuck _ –” Jonghyun muttered under his breath before he closed his eyes and whispered a spell, making the seats fall down gently. He opened his eyes, warily looking at Jinki. His thumping heart fell after noticing the shock in Jinki’s demeanor… and he braced himself when Jinki finally blinked, his lips moving in words he was trying to frame. 

“So… so it’s you,” Jinki whispered, “The one who cursed me.”

Jonghyun blinked, “Huh?”

Jinki’s lips curved up a bit, his dark eyes glinting silver and a soft breeze shifted the strands of Jonghyun’s fringe, “You are a witch, aren’t you?”

Jonghyun couldn’t hold his astoundment as he scratched his forehead that had been tickled by the breeze. “And… “ He answered, “So are you.”

-

Jonghyun was investigating the mini cauldron in the sink while Kibum just paced, bewildered at what Jonghyun had just told him.

“I brewed it wrong,” Jonghun sniffled, dropping the cauldron back in the sink before switching on the dishwasher. Mechanical hands began to wash, wipe, dry and sort his dishes precisely and quickly. “I forgot to add bishop’s weed.”

Kibum paused, “Are you also forgetting that you cursed an  _ elemental witch _ ?”

Jonghyun sanitized his hands, “Why are  _ you _ losing your chill when  _ he _ is very chill about it–”

“It’s not just mundane tasks that your curse will make him screw up but also if he practices magic–  _ fuck–  _ if he screws up an  _ elemental _ spell– he might cause a tsunami or an earthquake–”

“He knows he is cursed and he is refraining from magic.” Jonghyun explained, “I have it under control.”

“How?” Kibum finally sat down and Jonghyun’s little helper bot brought him some water after reading his hand gesture.

“He is bad at ice skating–”

“ _ Ice skating?” _

“Yes… and since it's finals week, portaling to an ice rink and making him good at skating will eat up a lot of our study time. So the most convenient and practical option is to somehow get through this week. When finals are done, I’ll break the curse during the weekend when our stadium converts to an ice rink for the fest.”

“So basically…” Kibum squinted, “You are his date for the Wintertide fest.”

“No,” Jonghyun said immediately, but the thought of it  _ was _ making him a little excited, “It’s strictly business.”

“Yeah, right.” Kibum muttered under his breath, watching Jonghyun hum while booking tickets to the fest. “Who came up with this plan, by the way?”

Jonghyun looked up from the projected screen of his phone, “Jinki did.”

“Jinki did…” Kibum repeated softly in thought before he bid Jonghyun goodbye and got on his way.

-

Jonghyun was glad he had no more work to submit as Jinki did not as well. They had met up in the library and Jonghyun had placed protection charms in his pockets and his bag in case they were of any help against the curse. Jinki was compliant to Jonghyun’s every request and they had ended up on a desk in a quaint corner of the uppermost landing of the library. There were only a few others around and the designated librarian for the floor was at her desk at the entrance. Jonghyun was calculative enough and had chosen a table that was both out of view and also away from accident-prone things.

Jonghyun preferred studying in the library even though most of the books he needed were all available online for download. The library no longer had books on the shelfs but sleek tabs that had the whole book with many viewing and projection options, assessments and interactive modules, which the download from the library’s online portal would not have. Some books often took up a lot of memory space in his student tab, moreover, he usually got distracted with witchcraft at his apartment, hence he always chose the library for his mundane studies.

Jinki seemed to prefer the library as well with how comfortable he got while studying. His glasses were still cracked and he  _ could _ probably see through them but it was just making Jonghyun a bit both uneasy and guilty. He finally whispered the spell that was lingering on his tongue and Jinki paused, noticing the cracks smooth out in his glasses.

“Thanks,” He smiled, “They’re good as new.”

“I know we’re here to study but…”

“You’re curious.” Jinki finished for him, “About me.” He immediately added, a bit embarrassed, “About me being a witch, that is.”

Jonghyun nodded.

“Okay, I guess we both can study better when all questions are answered.” Jinki switched off his tab, smiling a little as he rested back, “Ask away.”

“Do you know only wind magic?”

“I also know some water and earth spells. I wanted to learn more but magic took a backseat when I started university.”

“What about your coven?”

“We are the only family from my coven here. Our coven is based in the south and we are hella secretive. We live scattered and don’t practise magic unless necessary because our magic can disrupt nature’s flow and blow our cover pretty easily.”

“How did you know that your condition was a curse?”

“I had an inkling and I tested myself with detector potions.”

“Done? Really?” Jinki asked when Jonghyun asked no more.

“Not really…” Jonghyun sighed a little reluctantly. “But we have to get studying now otherwise we won’t need a curse to fail.”

“Well, that is right.” Jinki laughed and as he straightened up, his chair leant dangerously backwards and his face changed swiftly as he was about to take the fall. But Jonghyun was quick– he got up and grabbed the handrest of Jinki’s chair, putting it back on its four legs. But a sneeze came over him and the entire desk and chairs in the section, along with Jinki’s, came crashing down as the legs came out of their joints and Jinki crashed down loudly, still seated on the chair that had landed on the broken legs.

_ “Shit–” _

There was a soft red light glowing between the central AC vents above their desk and footsteps began to grow nearer by the minute. Jonghyun helped Jinki up and both of them quickly wrapped up their stuff and escaped the spot, Jonghyun fixing the desk and chairs by muttering a quick spell under his breath. 

Jinki grabbed his hand, directing him elsewhere as a humanoid and the librarian had both turned into the aisle they had just entered. Jonghyun found himself against a shelf with Jinki hovering close, his hands firmly grasped around Jonghyun’s as he peeked out for the sign of their pursuers. 

“I forgot they have CCTV.” Jonghyun whispered and Jinki looked at him, eyes wide in realization, “So did I.”

Jonghyun muttered a spell under his breath, “Well, now it’s taken care of. Nothing broke on camera.”

Jinki smiled, “Isn’t it convenient to be a conjuror?”

Jonghyun chuckled, “Very.” Jinki was peeking through the spaces between the digitized books so they could make their exit guiltlessly and Jonghyun found himself staring at the little flaws in Jinki’s skin, at how his hair, slightly curly at the ends was askew over his forehead, at how his adam’s apple moved with even the slightest movement inside his mouth, how he kept worrying on his lower lip, how small yet pretty his eyes were behind those old-fashioned glasses and how they were slowly beginning to slide off his nose again.

Jonghyun raised his hand and pushed the glasses back on reflex to keep them from falling and when Jinki turned to him, a little taken aback, he grew embarrassed, “Um, sorry.”

“No– No.” Jinki pushed his glasses back again, seeming a bit flustered as well as he took a step back out of Jonghyun’s space, “Thanks.”

“I… I guess we should study in one of our apartments,” Jonghyun changed the subject right away, “We won’t get in trouble even if we end up causing an accident.” 

“Yeah. Good call.” 

-

  
  


Kibum was waiting for his coffee to be brewed in Jonghyun’s kitchen, watching the coffee machine but his eyes were frequently roaming to where Jonghyun and Jinki were sitting– on the bed with the table dragged to the front to carry all of their needed materials. Jinki was starting to leave and Jonghyun accompanied him downstairs to his apartment and was back within 5 minutes, a little goofy smile on his face that had Kibum bemused.

“You’re actually enjoying this aren’t you?” Kibum grabbed his coffee and settled in one of the recliners, switching on his tab and projecting his own exam materials.

“No. Not at all.” Jonghyun immediately said, settling on his bed, “We are just studying together for… for convenience. It’s strictly business.”

“Is that stupid smile you had on your face all the time he was around strictly business too?”

Jonghyun threw a cushion at him, “If you are not gonna study then just leave.”

Kibum caught the cushion, smirking. He didn’t nudge further and returned to his notes, smiling when he saw coyness tint Jonghyun’s face.

-

Next day, Jonghyun went over to Jinki’s to study and his room was just like him… simple, clean, decorated with soft colors. His was a studio apartment as well but seemed larger due to how uncluttered and minimalistic it was. He had proper desk and chairs, unlike Jonghyun who had bean bags and recliners and a bigger bed as he usually laid down or rolled around while studying. Jinki had also made them coffee and they started studying almost immediately and though Jonghyun understood very well how important studying was, he wanted to just talk to Jinki, to hear his sweet voice, to see his eyes crinkling when he smiled, to hear his hearty laugh and just… just–

“Did you finish these topics, Jonghyun?”

Jonghyun broke from his daze and realized he had been chewing his stylus pen. “Oh, yeah… I finished them last night.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Jinki flipped pages on the projection of his notes with his stylus, “We don’t have much to cover in this subject then. We can start revising soon.”

Jonghyun nodded and reluctantly got into his notes and somehow Jinki’s company though had him distracted and in a daze before, now just looking at him so focused had him focused as well. He had never got this much studying done in such less time.

“Phew,” Jinki straightened up, switching off his tab and stretching his arms, “Now only revision’s left. We can do that the night before the exam.”

“Okay.” Jonghyun straightened up as well.

“So… now that we are taking a break,” Jinki smiled a little mischievously, “What do you wanna do?”

“Um, I don’t really have any ideas.”

“Hmm… well I do, c’mon.”

Jonghyun found himself standing behind Jinki in front of his closet. It was the same size as Jonghyun’s but it was organized– a little untidily– but nothing like how his own was– that vomited clothes the moment he opened it. He looked on, a bit confused at why Jinki seemed so excited with his closet… and then he pressed a button.

“Oh.  _ Oh. _ ” Jonghyun saw the closet open up further, like a walk in closet. Jinki walked in and Jonghyun followed, eyes roaming from shelf to shelf until they reached the table in between that had a small cauldron and all other necessary equipment needed for brewing potions.

“You have an enchanted closet?” Jonghyun was amazed, “This is so cool.”

“I was trying to learn conjuring spells and potions and since I just stay in the dorms for the holidays, I set up a little practise room here for myself.” Jinki explained, “I brewed a few potions last summer. Most aren’t activated yet though. Wanna look?”

“Sure.”

Jinki led Jonghyun to one of the shelves and in each row, small vials were stocked up with little labels below. Jonghyun spotted the section of detector potions, probably the ones he used to detect the curse on him. 

“You can change your appearance with this one,” Jinki picked up a peacock blue vial, “Not much though. Just a couple of features. It depends on each person which feature change will make them look different. For me, it probably is my eyes, nose and chin. For you,” Jinki looked at Jonghyun, his brows furrowed in concentration, “Eyes, cheekbones and I guess… your lips.”

Jonghyun felt his cheeks burn when finding Jinki’s intent gaze on him and he averted his gaze, embarrassed, “Is that so?”

Jinki cleared his throat, “Yes, maybe.”

“What… What does this do?” Jonghyun picked up a pastel rose vial.

“No wait– not that one–” Jinki carefully took it from Jonghyun’s hold, “It’s volatile. It’s not exactly a potion… just a potion-y thingy that imitates the effects of–”

“Aschoooom!” Jonghyun sneezed and covered his nose immediately with his sleeve, blinking as he recovered from that momentary setback in his mien. He looked down and saw that the vial in Jinki’s hands was now on the floor and not just that one– every vial on the shelf was on the floor, the potions littering the floor, some wafting wisps and smells.

Jinki covered his mouth as well and clasped Jonghyun’s hand immediately before leaving the enchanted closet and shutting it as soon as they were out.

“Are you alright?” Jinki asked the moment the closet was sealed with mundane shelves, “Did you inhale anything?”

“I– I don’t know,” Jonghyun sniffled, feeling angered at his stupid nose, “And I’m so sorry. You must have brewed them with such difficulty and I–”

“No, no, they are worthless attempts at some potions, what’s more important is you, Jonghyun.” Jinki immediately cut him off, his voice soft, soothing and Jonghyun began to feel better by just his tone.

“I am fine, I think.” Jonghyun whispered, his gaze settling on his shoes with both guilt and coyness.

“Are you sure?”

Jonghyun chuckled, unsure why, which suddenly turned into a laugh. He tried to suppress it but he just couldn’t and in between he managed to say, “No– I don’t think– I’m fine–”

“Oh no…” Jinki gasped before leading Jonghyun to the bed and making him sit down, “I think you inhaled the potion I made to imitate laughing gas effects.”

Jonghyun laughed, “Laughing gas? Why– Why would you make a potion for something that already works just fine alone.”

“I know! I was just a very eager, fascinated and stupid kid then.” Jinki crouched down in front of Jonghyun and began rubbing Jonghyun’s hands, “There were a lot of stupid potions in there and some of them were even activated–”

Jonghyun snickered, his brows constricting in the effort to not laugh, but it was no use, “What– happened–”

“It’s that weird aftertaste in my mouth–  _ fuck _ .”

“What?” Jonghyun freed his hands from Jinki’s the moment his laughter became hysterical and covered his mouth to stop that ugly, ugly laugh he didn’t know he owned.

“The laughing gas thingy should wear off in a minute,” Jinki shrugged, “I brewed that when I was twelve. I didn’t know how to make my potions potent then.”

“So you like brewing potions?” Jonghyun uttered shakily, his voice on the brink of bursting into laughter. His stomach was hurting from how badly he had previously laughed and he was barely keeping himself upright.

“Yes… and I am pretty good at it.” Jinki answered, his tone was reluctant, his face was a little pale as he had answered.

Jonghyun was feeling the laughter simmer down and he removed his hand from his mouth, “That is awesome. I’m not good with potions at all. Which potion did you brew last?”

Jinki closed his eyes and pursed his lips, his voice shaking as he answered, “The potion to reverse the curse of fallibility.”

Jonghyun let out a nervous laugh, “What?”

Jinki held Jonghyun’s hands firmly, “Right now the truth serum is making me say it but believe me, Jonghyun… I was going to tell you once our finals were done. I just wanted to spend some time with you and your witch cold and the curse was the perfect excuse.”

Jonghyun was taken aback and he suppressed a smile before he began, “So you inhaled the fumes of the truth serum, huh? How long will the effect last?”

“Since it's just fumes, I guess a few minutes.”

Jonghyun entwined his fingers with Jinki’s, “Since when do you like me?”

Jinki’s face was utterly flushed as he answered, “From the time we first talked.”

“What did you think of when I had pink hair?”

Jinki’s face was tinting further and further, “I found it really cute.”

Jonghyun blushed, unable to handle a compliment from Jinki so frankly, “Are you really bad at skating?”

“Yes.”

“Were you…” Jonghyun bit his lip, “Were you going to ask me to the Winter Formal?”

“Yes.” Jinki answered, averting his gaze, “I… I bought the tickets for us last night.”

“I bought them too.” Jonghyun whispered and Jinki looked at him then.

“Really?”

“It’s not the truth serum making me say it,” Jonghyun smiled, “But I was gonna ask you after we had broken your curse.”

Jinki looked at the join of their hands, “Do you still wanna study together even if we don’t really have a reason to now?”

“Do you?”

“Hell yes.”

Jonghyun chuckled, getting up, “Then I’ll see you tomorrow as per our study plan.”

Jinki got up as well, flustered and as he walked Jonghyun to the door.

They bid each other goodbye, it was a little awkward and a little shy and the moment Jonghyun had entered the elevator, he couldn’t contain his smile.

-

Kibum was waiting for his date to come back from the restroom and he took a seat on one of the bar stools in the hall, eyes roaming the attendance. He had only two exams as the rest of his classes were project based and so he had gone home on Tuesday and had returned just in time for the Winter Formal. He checked his phone and found that his cousin had still not read his messages from earlier that day. He clicked his tongue and again started watching the crowd that was now slow dancing to old love songs. He straightened up when he saw something peculiar, squinting because  _ Jonghyun, _ who would usually skip such events and hole up with food in his apartment, was on the dancefloor.

He was dancing with Jinki, which didn’t come as a surprise as Kibum knew they were only together to break the curse… but he blinked when he saw them  _ kissing, _ passionately at that and after a few moments he slumped back in his seat, sighing as a small smile graced his face.

“Strictly business, huh?”

  
  


_ The end _


End file.
